Rest in Peace, Patrick Murphy
by Bee.Eh.Vee
Summary: Danny Williams heads to Newfoundland for his great-uncle's funeral, and like everything that involves the Doyle family, it doesn't go as planned.
1. Patrick Murphy is Dead

**Rest in Peace, Patrick Murphy**

**Disclaimer:** I own neither of these shows, but I still have strong feelings regarding the end of Season 3 of Republic of Doyle especially when the SPOILER SPOILERed and then SPOILER got SPOILER.  
**A/N: **Mei2 passed on the idea of getting these two shows together/helped get it off the ground and this has been in the works for awhile. This is set in season 3 of Republic of Doyle (so, spoiler alert, but it shouldn't ruin the episodes) and no particular part of Hawaii 5-0. I'm trying to marry two shows, so you might find some over-explaining. If you've ended up here because you're a Hawaii 5-0 fan and never heard of Republic of Doyle, go find it! You have lots of time while everything's on hiatus for the summer and there's four seasons of Newfie awesomeness just waiting for you.

* * *

**Patrick Murphy is Dead**

Danny felt like he had spent a week on planes.

The journey had started when his daughter Grace and his partner Steve had dropped him off at the airport in Honolulu. He had waved as they drove off and smiled when Steve hit the police lights on his truck to get Grace back home in time for breakfast. He dodged vacationers as he made his way to the counter. The attendant was cheery and he made his way through security quickly. So far it was going well. He found a spot to sit and pulled out his reading material he'd brought along, only to find that Steve had tucked his latest issue of Guns & Ammo in his bag. He snorted...and then read it anyway. It may be helpful to try to understand the psyche of his psychotic partner.

At LAX it was impossible to walk in a straight line from point A to point B. There were photographers hanging around in little clumps at what seemed like every turn in the lobby. One group jumped out in front of him and started snapping pictures and belting out questions. He only caught snatches, "isn't that the guy from that movie...no...taller...taller on screen...maybe...the blonde haircut looks so familiar..." He employed some duck and dodging learned from chasing suspects with Steve and got out of there.

His next stop was Pearson in Toronto, where he switched planes again. The last leg of his journey dropped him in St. John's, Newfoundland. Finally, a small airport with a reasonable amount of people. He could work with this. Claiming his baggage was slow as his bags were some of the first on the plane. He watched the carousel as swung around with bags of many colours. Finally his swung around and he snatched it off.

He walked out to the front of the airport and scanned the area for a taxi. His eye caught on a very un-taxi-like car. He considered pretending to ignore it, to just grab a taxi driven by a person he'd never met. But then he realized where he was, and that unlike people everywhere else, a simple taxi ride, or question for that matter, is never simple. He might as well hitch a ride. Besides, it wasn't a big lot and it would be obvious that he saw the car.

He heaved a sigh, hoisted his bag, and loped over to the Pontiac GTO and the brunette leaning against the hood with his arms crossed and a perma-smirk.

"Hey Jake."

"Danny-boy."

He'd been in this province for less than half-an-hour and he'd already rolled his eyes. This was going to be a long stay. "Cut it out and pop the trunk on your baby blue hunk of junk you call a car."

Jake made a face and poked at Danny's shoulder. "I told you the last time, it's a grey-blue. And it's not a hunk of junk, I've put work into it and the tail pipe will not fall off again."

"I hope you were fined by the town for the mess you made."

Jake cocked his head and smiled, "They're used to me and Dad. I pay them back by solving their cases."

Danny rolled his eyes, again. "Hood still their best detective?"

At that Jake froze for a moment. He was clearly debating what to say and Danny made a mental note to get the history from Jake's dad Mal. "No...There's a new sergeant named Leslie Bennett."

"She good?"

"The best we've ever had."

Luggage stowed, they climbed in the car and made the short drive to Mal's house. Everything was a short drive in St. John's when it's compared to the cities that Danny had lived in over the course of his life. It was nice to take a drive without honking. They talked about nothing in particular, Jake pointed out a series of new buildings and things that had changed since Danny's last visit. They pulled up to the sidewalk in front of the house and unloaded Danny's bag.

Screeching and banging noises filtered out through the open window and Danny looked to Jake for an explanation. Jake shook his head and pointed for him to go in.

"Well. This is much nicer than the last time I was here." Danny took in the fresh paint and comfortable furniture. "So much better than the dorm-room chic."

Jake shrugged. "After Mom died and Kathleen moved out west it was just us men."

A woman with red hair and a glass of wine to match walked in the room. She was yelling in the general direction of the noise. "If you two don't knock it off I'm going to make you do Jake's laundry!"

"Eww!" came from above followed by "That's fine but I never found out if he prefers folding or rolling..." which was ended by a big 'oomph' of air being knocked out of lungs.

Jake grinned at the sighing woman. "Rose, this is Danny. Danny, this is Dad's wife."

Danny eyes cut from Jake to Rose. "You and Mal? Congratulations. I'm glad to hear it." A thundering of feet coming down the staircase drowned out his next words. Two people rounded the corner into the living room and Rose grabbed a short girl with dark hair and a pout while Jake grabbed the taller brunette boy with a nervous twitch in a move that they had obviously practiced.

Jake held on to his and pointed at Rose's. "That there is Tinny, Kathleen's daughter and therefore my niece. She was with her mom when you were last here. This is Des. How he ended up here is too long a tale and it gives me a headache." Des reached around Jake and stuck his hand out for Danny to shake.

"You'll be bunking with me if you still want to stay here. I assume you're still welcome because Jake's dropped you off here. This kind of thing happens here all the time. People come over, they stay for a visit and then they stay here full time. At least that's what happened to me. I assume you're here for the funeral?" Des's voice began to rise near the end of the explosion of words as Jake's hand tightened on his shoulder. Des stopped talking and Jake released his hand.

Tinny stood with her arms crossed and jerked her chin and Danny. "Who're you?"

Danny, keeping a wary eye on Jake and Des, answered "I'm Danny Williams. Patrick Murphy was my great-uncle. We used to come up here from Jersey as a family for summer vacations to visit relatives. We would stay with him."

Jake finally released Des and finished explaining the connection. "Patrick Murphy was Mom's Dad, my grandpa." He pointed at Danny, "our dads were cousins and we're a year apart so we...had some fun during those visits."

"So you're from Jersey?" Rose asked.

"Originally. Now I'm a cop in" Danny grimaced "Hawaii."

A sigh came from Rose's corner of their little group. She picked up her glass of wine that she had stowed during the stampede from above. "A well-known vacation area. Not that I would ever know thanks to Mal's stubbornness."

Tinny laughed, "Do you remember what happened the last time you went on vacation? They made Jake a police officer, he caused problems all over the city and he hung a..." The sentence was left unfinished thanks to a piercing stare originating from Jake.

Danny harrumphed. "It's not much of a vacation with my insane partner...wait, you were on the force again?"

Jake glared at Tinny and jerked his head at them. Des took the hint and gathered up Danny's suitcase.

"Would you like me to hang up anything? Did you bring clothes that should be pressed, because I am quite the ironer if I do say so." His pale complexion went a bit whiter at Jake's growl. He spun and ran up the stairs with the luggage in his arms. Tinny headed towards the kitchen and Rose followed her sipping at her glass.

Danny clapped his hands together and sent a closed-mouth grin at his second-cousin. "That was educational. Tell me, how is the private investigating? Or do you spend most of your time wrangling your ever-expanding family?"

Jake pointed a finger in Danny's face. "Shut it. Go get in the car. I've got a surprise."

"I hope there's no more family...of the child variety." Danny threw over his shoulder as he hurried out of arm's reach. That earned him a glare from Jake, but he just laughed it off.

* * *

Danny followed Jake into the Duke and smiled at the familiar tables and bar. They'd spent some time in here growing up.

Jake reached behind the bar and pulled out a bottle. He tossed two glasses to Danny who followed along behind. Jake nodded at Christian, waited for the buzzer to sound and then bounced off the door. Christian gave Jake one of his lopsided smiles and Jake returned it with a glare. The buzzer sounded again and this time the two made it through the doorway.

The staircase wound up and up, but Jake kept going until he reached the door at the top. He muscled it open and jerked his head to get Danny to follow him out onto the roof.

"So you own that place now?" Danny rearranged the glasses in his hands so Jake could pour.

"Yes b'y. Me and Christian bought it, but it was Christian's boneheaded idea. We try not to talk about it now, it's all in the past except for the loan payments."

"You and your brother bought a bar. Together. Who was dumb enough to finance this?"

"I said I don't talk about it. Besides, last I heard the guy moved to Toronto." Jake took a drink out of the glass and leaned his arms on the wall around the roof and stared out at the city.

Danny followed suit and looked at the collage of colours. It seemed that no Newfoundlander could have the same colour house as their neighbour. The resulting effect resembled a crayon box leaning up against green hills and a brilliant sea. He noted the newer parts of town and the old roads that they had raced down in the broken down cars they boosted out of the wrecking yard.

"We raised some sort of hell, didn't we." Jake laughed and raised his glass to the city.

"It's where I learned to drive defensively and offensively at the same time." Danny stared down into his glass. "I'd be lying if I said it never came in handy."

"Remember when we tied Al to the hood of the car and carted him around for a while?" Jake laughed at the memory. "That was stupid."

Danny tensed, coughed and took a quick drink.

Jake knew him well enough to catch his old tell. "Who'd you strap to a car?" His tone took on a teasing quality.

"My family was involved. He deserved it."

"Did it work?"

"Yep. Unfortunately Steve, my partner who also happens to be a SEAL, decided that it gave him the right to pull some stunts."

"Like..."

Danny sighed and dragged a hand down his face. "Dropping a guy in a shark cage."

"A what?"

"It's for the tourists to swim in. It's a cage in an area of the sea where sharks gather. Nothing life-threatening, just some small ones that would rather eat fish. The guy was a mainlander so he didn't know the difference."

Jake pondered that. "We can't do that here, nobody here swims in the ocean, too cold."

Danny took a deep breath and stood up straight, "I would like to know what and where you hung something while the cops let you wear a badge again."

Jake groaned. "For the record, the only reason that...guy...gave me my old job back was to set me up to take the fall later on. I never really wanted to be a cop again, but, Dad and Rose left on a vacation and being a PI was getting rough."

"Don't avoid the question."

A sigh this time. "I hung a guy off of a roof."

"Steve did that, on a hotel."

"Did Steve drop him?"

That pulled Danny up short. "Uh...no, it was a tall building, he could've died. Wait, you dropped yours?!"

"Into a bin...broke his leg."

"Huh."

Jake paused. "Later I broke it again when I hit it with a tire iron."

"Really?"

"And may have shot him in his good leg. That one was kind of his fault."

"Uh..."

"The next time we met he may have gotten injured again."

Danny stared in disbelief.

"Poor Jimmy. Wolf thought it was funny, though."

"I don't even know what you're talking about any more."

Jake grinned at Danny. "You had to see it."

"I'm rethinking bringing Grace here to meet the family." Danny frowned. "As in never going to happen."

Jake nodded. "Probably for the best. We should get ready for the wake."

* * *

**A/N:** You can watch the saga of poor Jimmy in the season 3 premiere along with a very famous face and ask the same question everyone else did: Wait...is that Russell Crowe? How is he on Doyle? You can find the answers to these questions and more by searching "CBC LIVE: Russell Crowe on the Set of Republic of Doyle - UPDATED" on youtube. Wow, that sounded like an ad, but it was better than 'Watch Jimmy get trown off'a roof'.


	2. Patrick Murphy is Remembered

**Rest in Peace, Patrick Murphy**

**Disclaimer:** I own neither of these shows, but I also have strong feelings regarding the end of Season 4 of Republic of Doyle when I was left with WORDS: SPOILER. SPOILER! SPOILER. SPOILER. SPOILER? _Sigh…_

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**Patrick Murphy is Remembered**

"This is nice." Danny pinched his lips together to keep from smiling. "I forgot how classy a party you people could throw."

Jake turned from singing, or rather swaying, along with a Great Big Sea track to frown at Danny. "Finish your drink and start another. You're behind." He turned back towards the group but at the last minutes swiveled back. "And lose the tie, people 'round here tend to use them to keep a'hold of you while they're beating the tar out of you."

Danny rolled his eyes and tugged at the tie. "Y'can't wear a tie on any island apparently." He mumbled into his pint as he signalled for a fresh one. Jake nodded his approval but his face quickly turned dark as– Danny fought off the alcohol clouding his brain to reach back for the name – Des bumped into him. Tinny was following close behind and rolled her eyes, a move she appeared to be well practiced at, as she watched the slight scuffle between the two.

Finally they got themselves untangled and Des was vibrating and twitching. Jake swiped a hand down his arm and sighed. "How many times do I have to tell ya, the fruity drinks are bad for you; the combination of sugar and rum turns you into even more of a mess."

Des stood up straight and laid a hand on Jake's shoulder. "As much as I truly appreciate the concern, it really does make me feel a part of this family, but I've been drinking Coke all night. No b'y, I've finally done it. I've hacked the DJ and changed his playlist."

As Jake glared down at the offending limb sitting on his shoulder, Tinny huffed. "Yeah, real difficult that one, eh. The guy running the CD player stepped away to visit the john and Des slipped in his own disc."

"Shh shh! Here it is!" Des's face broke open in a wide smile as the first strains of a Stompin' Tom Connors drifted out of the speakers.

_The girls are out to Bingo and the boys are gettin' stinko and we think no more of Inco on a Sudbury Saturday night._

The 'DJ' noticed the different music and looked up in confusion so Des hustled over to him. The trio watched as he held up his hands and his nervous voice bounced back to them. "Now b'y, just replace 'Sudbury' with 'St. John's' and it totally works, right?"

Tinny shook her head and turned her back on him. "I told him to use 'The Hockey Song' instead, but he likes 'stinko' rhymed with 'bingo' too much." They reflected on that as they watched the crowd.

Des detached himself from the DJ and his buddies and rushed back to Tinny, Jake, and Danny. "Okay. Not a good decision to try out my hacking during a wake." Tinny sighed _and_ rolled her eyes but still passed him his glass back.

They were settled back into their drinking when Sergeant Hood passed through the door, scanned the crowd, spotted Jake, huffed, and waded through the people to find him. "Doyle. We need to talk. Tinny and Des, maybe you should find a different spot to sit." Tinny pulled a protesting Des behind her after giving the officer a nod. Hood squinted at Danny. "Who're you?"

"You don't remember him?" Jake grinned a smile with a hint of malice. "Sure, you remember ol' Danny-boy from your early years on patrol!"

"Danny...Williams? Hasn't this city suffered enough?" Hood's mouth turned down and he plopped his hands on his hips.

Jake crossed his arms and leaned back against the bar. "Aw, ignore him, he's just sore you kept all your hair. Hood here grows the goatee to bolster the southern part of his head."

Danny scratched his head and searched for something to say that might raise Hood's opinion of him...but then again, there wasn't anything that could lower it. "I'm a cop now."

Hood rolled his eyes. "Someone help that city. Now leave mine."

"Be nice. He flew in from Hawaii." Jake stepped in.

"New plan. You stay here and I'll take your flight back."

"New new plan, you tell us what's got you all sweaty." Jake waved his hands in the air.

Hood huffed, "Fine. You involved in stealing another body?"

"No!" Jake looked offended.

"Stealing a body? Wait. _Another_ body?" Danny's eyes widened and he stared at Jake. "When did you steal the first one? I know we had some wild days when we were growing up, but this? I mean, sure, we thought about it, but we were never stupid enough to _actually_ go through with it."

Danny went for a breath but Jake was faster. "Shut it. It was for a case, we returned it, and we suffered enough." He turned to Hood. "I did not steal a body."

"I know. We got a call right around the time from Mrs. Duffield complaining about two men drinking on the top of this building. Christian confirmed it was you." Hood smirked a bit; it wasn't often he got Jake Doyle off-balance. "But I didn't say you stole it, I asked if you were involved." He raised his eyebrows as he waited for an answer.

Jake pointed a finger at Hood. "No. I did not plan, help, or hide an attempt to steal a dead body." He grabbed his pint off of the bar. "Who'd you lose?"

Hood made a face at Jake. "We didn't lose anyone. The funeral home lost your grandpa."

Beer flew out of Jake's mouth and Christian, who happened to be walking by at the moment, gasped and shook his fist at his brother, "Waste! That's good ale!" Jake responded with a gesture as he was too busy coughing to clear his lungs to get any words out.

"Why is Jake coughing his lungs out? Hi Danny, I heard you were back in town." Mal came up from behind Hood, shook Danny's hand and smacked his son on the back. "Can't you hold your liquor?"

"Very funny." Jake croaked out. "Hood said Gramps is gone."

"That's why I'm here. Put down the beer, we're going to help Abram find him."

Danny put his hand up. "Who?"

"Abram's the night watchman who's on duty and reported the break-in." Hood answered, he waited for a beat and then added, "He's, uh, known to us."

Jake was busy drinking down the last of his pint and Danny, realizing he had a fresh pint he hadn't touched, looked at the glass. Christian, whose timing seemed to be impeccable, sauntered up and grabbed it. "I'll finish that up for you and stay as the family representative. Go on Jake, do your job." For this he got a scowl, but Christian just laughed.

"Why do we have to go now? It's the middle of the wake and it's just getting good." Jake frowned into his empty glass.

Mal sighed. "If we don't find the body, there won't be a funeral. If there's no funeral, this wake was for naught. Come on, clearly I'm driving."


	3. Patrick Murphy is Gone!

**Rest in Peace, Patrick Murphy**

******Disclaimer:** I own neither of these shows, but I would like to own that GTO.

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**Patrick Murphy is Gone!**

"Ah! Why is it still sunny out?" Jake squinted at the light as he followed behind his dad.

"You okay?" Danny shut the door of the Duke behind him.

"Best kind. Dad, would you slow down?"

Mal tugged out his truck keys. "It's the summer, days last longer here. You know this. What's got you in such a mood?"

"Besides the fact you pulled me outta the wake? I live above the bar for a reason – I'm home at the end of the night." Jake climbed in the truck on the passenger side and snatched a bottle of water off the floor and started drinking.

Danny eyed the bench seat and then circled around to the driver's side and slid to the middle seat. "Is he always this cranky?"

Mal started the engine and eased down the road. "Only when we interrupt his drinking. You should've seen him the night the Duke closed for a gas leak on half-price Whiskey night. Thankfully Leslie distracted him."

Danny started to open his mouth to ask about this Leslie, but one look at Jake's scowl had him thinking that he should hold off until he wasn't around. "How do you know Abram?"

"He was caught up in a theft ring we broke up a while back. He was their wheelman. Turned out once the police were done with their investigation he wasn't as guilty as he looked." Mal explained as he navigated the streets of St. John's. "He did some time for reckless driving and after he got out we gave him a hand finding a job that didn't require operating any sort of vehicle. When he found out what happened to my father-in-law, he called the police and then he called me."

"Here we are. And there he is, waiting out front." Jake waved at the pacing figure. "He's so worried about getting into trouble he walks to work and bikes if he has to go further."

Mal parked the truck. "Leave the boy alone. At least he knows his problems and deals with them. He doesn't constantly try to mess up the best thing in his life."

"If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, stay out of" Jake paused, his eye twitched, and ground out "...my personal life."

Danny had a feeling this elusive 'Leslie' was involved, but he didn't want to get smacked, so he kept his mouth shut. He remembered what Jake was like around girls, one part smooth operator and one part disaster, which exactly described his short-lived marriage to Nikki. If there was something serious with this one, he'd better be invited to this wedding; his family back home in Jersey would need proof that someone had finally tamed and smoothed the rough edges of Jake Doyle.

"Hi Abram, we came as quick as we could." They climbed out of the truck and circled around the nervous night watchman. Mal continued, "Hood filled me in on some of the details, but can you tell it to us from the beginning?"

Abram nodded. "They're in there dusting and combing so's I can't go in there anyways. I was doin' my rounds when I heards the front door bang open. Mal, I was just doin' my job." He flopped his arms helplessly. Mal patted him on the shoulder and waved for him to continue. "I went up to check and locked it up again. I started checking alls the other doors and windows and by the time I got back to your father, the coffin was gone."

Jake waved his hand a bit, "Wait, they took the coffin and all? Where were they storing him...it...them?" He squinted a bit, trying to figure out how to collectively refer to the coffin and his dead grandfather.

"Since the funeral's tomorrow and the cold room's a bit stuffed, we put him in the display room – it's the coolest upstairs."

Danny picked up where Jake's mind was headed. "So these thieves may have thought they were just stealing an empty coffin. If it was still sitting on the wheeling rack, they probably grabbed it because it was the easiest to move."

"Hooligans. Must be hooligans." Mal nodded his head with finality.

"Dad, no one says hooligans anymore." Jake rolled his eyes.

"That's what we called you's two when you're destroying the city." Mal shot back.

"Wow, you are never going to let it go. Let it go already!"

"Your mother was good at that, I prefer to hold on to and remember the havoc my son caused and causes on a regular basis. At least Christian's finally straightened out. And I have high hopes for Des finally being the good son I never had. I can trust him and Tinny to take care of me in my old age, because you'd just forget about me if I wasn't around to remind you."

Danny looked at Abram, "Any security cameras?"

Abram eyed the dueling Doyles and nodded. "Yeah, but they're not much good. They were the first thing I checked. You might get something off'a that one." He pointed at a building around the corner. "The owner lives upstairs."

Danny tugged on the sleeves of his relatives. "Okay, we have a lead, let's leave Abram to his pacing and go find Uncle Paddy."

They headed across the road where they clomped up the stairs to the apartment above the store. Mal pushed Jake back, after informing him he smelled like a brewery to which Jake rolled his eyes, and knocked on the door. The owner came to open it and after Mal calmly explained the situation, he grabbed his shoes and led them down to the store.

"It's not bad being beside a funeral home. They're busy at odd times, but it's good advertising for me. My customers deal with the inconvenience of limited parking better now that I have two designated spots. Here's the cameras, what time do you need?"

Mal thought back, "About half an hour ago?"

The owner scrolled back through the tape. "Digital system, much nicer to work with. Solved a dispute a few weeks back when family members from a funeral got into a fight following the service. Seemed they didn't agree on how the will had divvied up the money. Ah, here it is."

Danny looked at the screen with the rest of them as he laughed on the inside; you always got more information than you needed here.

"There, that car." Jake pointed at the screen. "It was riding a lot higher when it went by the first time. Can you zoom in on the plate?"

"That I can." The owner fiddled with the controls. "That there's how I solved who threw the first punch. Can you read that?"

"Yep." Jake was already dialing his phone. "Hi, Rose? I need you to look up a license plate." He waited, then asked, "How's the wake? Party still going strong?" He huffed at her answer. "Is Des still in one piece?" He laughed a bit and then looked back at the screen. He read the number and waited. "Hold on, I'll put you on speaker." He hit the button and held up the phone.

"The car's owned by Rufus Mcguire. His address is up in Mount Pearl which Des is texting you." Rose's voice filtered through the speaker.

"Yeah, but, he's also known to hang out by the docks." Des added.

"How do you know that?" Mal asked.

"Aw, in high school they used to have these mad killer parties out there. Just look for the abandoned warehouse with the skateboard nailed above the door."

"Subtle." Jake raised an eyebrow. "Do the coppers know about this place?"

"He moves around down there. And he's been slowing down lately."

"Okay. Hopefully we'll see you soon." Mal turned to thank the store owner as Jake ended the call. He checked the text from Des and the three of them headed back to Mal's truck. They had Paddy Murphy to find.


	4. Patrick Murphy Has To Be

**Rest in Peace, Patrick Murphy**

**Disclaimer:** Still don't own either show...but, the CBC is owned by the federal government and I pay taxes, sooo...

* * *

**Patrick Murphy Has To Be Around Here Somewhere...**

"They rebuilt that place?" Danny craned his neck to look at the old house on the corner. "That was a dump!"

Jake laughed as they drove by. "Yes b'y, it certainly was. But the ol' creepy curtains creeped out the girls."

"And they would willingly jump into our arms." Danny finished.

"Tricking girls, drag racing cars, vandalism. Jake, have you ever thought that all of Des's actions are payback for what you did in your youth?" Mal shook his head as he stopped at the light.

"I thought Des was a good kid?" Danny glanced at Jake.

"He is...now. Our first meeting was when he spray painted my car. He also hit on Tinny numerous times but she took care of that herself." Jake looked proud at how his niece could handle herself.

Danny looked over at the building. "But what happened to the house?"

"Yuppies. Decided it was a historical building and renovated it." Jake rolled his eyes and then grinned. "Some historical things did happen in that house, though."

"If you want me to stay out of your personal life, stop talking about it." Mal grimaced and rolled away from the corner. "Focus, we're getting into the warehouses."

They all looked at the doorways as Mal threaded the truck through the warehouses. As they zigzagged through the buildings they used the waning sunlight to distinguish between rust, patch boards, and what they were looking for. There were a couple close calls before Mal turned the corner and they found themselves staring at a door with a lime green skateboard hanging from a rope tied to the eavestrough.

"Found it." Jake pointed while the other two rolled their eyes.

They pushed the truck doors open and climbed out. Since they weren't sure of what they were going to find on the other side of the door, Mal volunteered to go around the back to find another entrance leaving Jake and Danny to go through the front. Thanks to summers spent sneaking around and pranking, Jake and Danny were used to acting as partners. They counted down and then slipped through the door and pulled up short.

"Found it." Jake whispered to Danny who was too shocked to react.

There it was, the buffed and polished coffin still perched on its cart, in the middle of the room under a spotlight.

Together they edged towards the pool of light as silently as possible. A whisper reached their ears and they waited just outside the light. The sound of wheels on concrete came from their right and both tensed up as the sound changed from concrete to wood and came rapidly closer. Suddenly, a body came flying through the air with his hands clutched onto something at his feet.

Jake uncoiled like a spring and launched himself at the figure. Simultaneously Danny leapt towards the coffin, slamming his heel down to unlock the brake and pulling it out of the way. Jake landed in a pile with the flying body and both grunted as they hit the ground.

Voices ricocheted off the walls and ceiling, the echoes confused the words but as Jake pulled himself off the ground bodies rushed into the light. Danny and Jake found themselves being yelled at from all sides.

"Why'd'ya have to go and ruin a perfectly good shot?"

"How'd'ya get in here?"

"You could'a killed me, eh! What were you thinking throwing yourself at me?"

"We'll just have to do it again."

"Again?! I've done it three times already! Let's see you try."

"You knows I could but you can't run the camera."

"I left the lens cap on ONE TIME!"

"Enough!" Danny yelled loud enough that Jake's ears hurt a bit. "Someone is going to explain to me RIGHT NOW what you're doing."

The taller one in the middle swatted the one to his left. "I told you someone would catch us."

"It doesn't matter, they're not cops." The swatted one smirked.

"Rufus?" Jake eyed the smirker. "You should realize there are worse fates than ending up in jail."

The confident light dimmed in Rufus's eyes. Danny noticed and pounced. "That's right, since you're clearly doing this in secret, no one will notice that you're missing for awhile."

Jake crossed his arms and smile worked its way across his face. "It'll be like old times."

"We stole the coffin so's we could make a video to put on YouTube. It's like the sickest thing to jump over."

"Johnny!" Rufus yelled at the taller one. The one furthest to the right melted into the black, but neither Danny nor Jake noticed.

"Really sick considering that coffin's full." Jake flippantly added.

Johnny and Rufus's eyes jerked to the coffin and all the blood drained out of their faces. Their mouths gaped open and neither could form a word. Danny and Jake shared a look and tried to keep from laughing. Danny sauntered over to the coffin. "Don't believe us? Here, let's get the lid open." He started unlatching it as the two finally found their tongues back and vehemently disagreed with him. Suddenly the lights flipped on and the group of four squinted into the brightness.

"You boys almost missed something." Mal walked over clutching the shirt of the third member of the skateboard group. "Tom here was trying to use the back door. I see you found Patrick." He nodded towards the coffin and turned towards the squirming Tom. "How do you propose to return him to the funeral home?"

Tom shook his head. "I'm not touching that thing. There's a body in there!"

"There was a body when you stole it." Jake pointed out.

Tom gathered some courage and shouted back, "Well...we's didn't know that at the time." He looked over at Rufus and Johnny who looked as though they were either going to throw up or faint, or both.

"What about the truck?" Danny asked, and then thought for a moment, "How'd you get it here?"

Rufus looked like he swallowed a lemon. "You don't want to know...we had to turn it sideways and...things shifted."

"Let's just call Abram, he can send a hearse. Might help his pride a bit to be the one to bring it home." Jake offered.

"I'll call him, you call Hood seein' as this was his case." Mal flipped his phone open and started dialing. "Danny..." He gestured to the three morose skateboarders.

"I come here for a funeral and I'm babysitting lawbreakers..." Danny plopped his hands on his hips and sighed. Rufus started to edge away and Danny pinched the bridge of his nose. "Don't...just stop. After the day I've had, my patience is gone."

Des burst through the door behind them and ran up to them. "You found him? Deadly."

Three stomachs emptied onto the floor in unison at the mention of 'dead'. Danny sighed, Jake rolled his eyes, Mal ignored them, and Des, of course, tried to apologize.

* * *

_The next day..._

"That was a nice service." Danny mentioned to Jake as they followed Rose and Mal out of the service.

Jake shrugged, "We can be serious at times." They found a spot near the wall to stand and watch the people milling in the lobby of the church.

"Hi Jake, Hood filled me in on what happened to your grandfather. I'm glad it wasn't anything worse." A soft voice came from behind the pair.

Danny spun around to find a blonde woman with a small smile looking at Jake. She and Jake caught each other's eye and Danny began to feel like he was intruding, then a light bulb went off in his brain. "Hi, I'm Danny Williams, would you be Leslie Bennett?"

She tore her eyes away from Jake and nodded. "I am. Hood mentioned that someone was with Jake."

Jake huffed, "I think he would've said more than that."

Leslie smiled, "He did, I'll not repeat it, but he did grudgingly admit that Danny has changed since he knew him." Danny gave her a smile and winked. "I should go, I need to get back to work." She turned back to Jake and laid a hand on his arm. "We'll talk later?" He nodded and they watched as she walked away.

Danny looked at Jake's face and smirked. "I hope you're planning on holding onto that one." Jake pressed his lips together and glared at Danny who ignored him. "And I expect an invitation to the wedding." Before Jake could get out the words that were most definitely coming, Danny spun on his heels and dodged the smack. "Is that Mal calling? I should go." A grin spread across his face as he raced away. Good thing his flight took off in a couple of hours.

_Fin_


End file.
